Conflicts Over Religion in America's Public Schools

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Fourth R by Joan DelFattore

Book Description

Contrary to popular belief, God has certainly not been kicked out of the public schools. What is banned is state-sponsored prayer, not the religious speech of the students themselves. But as news stories, political speeches, and lawsuits amply demonstrate, this approach has by no means resolved the long-standing debate over religion in public education. While some people challenge the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, with its reference to "one nation under God", others view school shootings and the terrorism of 9/11 as evidence that organised prayer must once again become part of the official school day. In this lively book, Joan DelFattore traces the evolution of school-prayer battles from the early 1800s, when children were beaten or expelled for refusing to read the King James Bible, to current disputes over prayer at public-school football games. Underlying these events, she shows, is a struggle to balance two of the most fundamental tenets of Americanism: majority rule and individual rights.

Books By Author Joan DelFattore

How free are students and teachers to express unpopular ideas in schools and universities? Not free enough, the author suggests. Wading without hesitation into some of the most contentious issues of our times, she investigates battles over a wide range of topics that have fractured school and university communities.

Offers a behind-the-scenes view of the ways in which special-interest groups influence the content of textbooks used in public and private schools throughout America. This book describes six cases resulting from attempts to suppress information on evolution, gun control and pacifism.

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